Point Beach's Garnet Gull brings unique character to Shore sidelines

9:12 PM,
Nov. 13, 2012

The Garnet Gull cheers during a Point Beach game against Keansburg on Oct. 12.

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Before donning the Garnet Gull mascot suit, former Point Pleasant Beach High School student Chris McManus was shy and didn't really care for crowds.

"I had come to the school as a sophomore and didn't really know too many people," said McManus, who was the school's costumed mascot for two years before graduating in 2010. "But being the mascot, being inside the suit, was a good way for me to spread my wings. It gave me a great opportunity to really get involved and lose my shyness. I broke out of my egg."

Athletic director Ellen Magliaro recalls the day she told McManus he got the job as Beach's ...